Provides a systematic comparison of legal scholars' views and governments' practice regarding the occasions for, criteria for, and effects of recognition. It traces the evolution from the 19th century practice basing recognition mainly on effective rule to more frequent use of additional criteria in the interwar and early Cold War, to the reassertion of the primacy of effective rule since 1970 and places it in the context of contemporaneous changes in world politics.

Preface - Abbreviations used in the Notes - The Institution of Recognition of Governments - Limits to Recognition of Governments - Legal Rules guiding Recognition Decisions - The Main Criteria for Recognition - Other Proposed Criteria - The Forms of Recognition - Recognition in Bilateral Relations - Recognition in Multilateral Relations - Recognition in Domestic Administration and Law - Political Uses of Recognition - Altering the Institution of Recognition of Governments - The International System and Recognition of Governments - Notes - Index